Match Making Through Quidditch Matches
by WickedGirl-CriminalMind
Summary: The big match against Slytherin is coming up and James has to win it or face relentless teasing. He thinks he upset Lily Evans but he didn't because he likes her and she likes him but neither of them knows it. Can one Quidditch match work a little love?
1. Dimly Lit Confusion

Lily Evans looked around the Great Hall, during lunch, trying to locate James Potter. Yeah, thats right, Lily Evans wanted to see Potter, for a good reason. I guess miracles do happen.

For some reason, he was being extrodinarily nice to her this year, he had hexed no one, and was not even being arrogant. In fact, he had been downright sweet compared to last year.

_How_ it happened she did not know, but she knew she liked him all of a sudden. It was kind of wierd in her opinion, the way she was suddenly crushing on James.

"Hey Lil."

. A cheery voice startled Lily.

" Oh, hey Alice." Lily said airily, a bit annoyed that she couldnt find James.

"So."

"What?"

" Is it true Lily? Do you actually like Potter, I mean James Potter, I thought you hated him!"

" I thought so too. I guess I was wrong and yeah, I kind of like him. Aly, um, do you think I should,uh, tell him?"

"Yes and no."

Alice had a mysterious look on face; she seemed more than happy to share her knowledge of love with Lily.

"You want him to know you like him but dont come straight out and say it. Flirt a little bit and wait for him to make a move."

" Will that work, I mean isnt that so first year?" Lily said skeptically.

" No, and youll have opportunities to flirt, he is Quidditch Captain and you are a Chaser on the team. Oh, Ive got to go, I have date with Frank Longbottom tonight. Bye!"

"Wait, hold it! I thought your date wasnt till nine, it is like way to early right now, its only five! "

"Yeah well, I want to get an early start, I am going to watch your Quidditch practice though, see you at the Qudditch Pitch, bye now!"

Lily tried to supress a laugh as she thought of Alice and Frank. Never had Lily met two people so different yet so perfect for each other. Frank was quiet and laid back while Alice was bubbly and always busy. With a smile, Lily grabbed her books and went to get her broom for Quidditch practice.

It was a perfect day outside as James made his way to the Quidditch Pitch with his two best friends, Sirius and Remus. He was feeling particularly bright because he was Captain, but also feeling slightly nervous. Awesome team this year though.

Remus and Sirius were Beaters, a broad shouldered sixth year named Cody Daynes was keeper, he himself was Seeker, and he had three superb Chasers. A fourth year called Trish Nell, who was small but speedy, Frank Lonbottom who had exceptionally good aim, and then there was his favorite by far, Lily Evans.

James sighed at just the thought of her. Lily was beautiful, popular, sweet, smart, funny and everything good about life. All in all, she was perfect. He had always liked her, but she seemed to hate him. But then again, Lily had been nice to him this year, very nice.

"Hey, hey James, are you with us buddy? Or too busy daydreaming about the furure Lily Potter."

Sirius Black smirked at him.

"Wha-oh,um, yeah, Im here."

Remus and Sirius laughed.

"Shut up you two."

James said, though he had turned very red. Sirius gave him a mocking look of sympathy but ruined it by smirking a bit to much.

"Dreaming of dear little Lily" he said.

James threw a broken quill at him but turned very red again. The three walked on, abusing the Slytherin Team with rather amusing insults and Sirius continued to tease James about liking Lily.

When they reached the Pitch, the rest of the team was already assembled there. James looked around, saw Lily, and felt a swooping sensation in his stomach that had nothing to do with nerves.

"Alright, lets get down to it, this our last practice before the big game. The biggest. It deter mines everything and you know what the Slytherins are like. Do you, the schools best team, really want to be tortured into insanity by insults? No, I didn't think so."

James sincerely hoped this was a good way to start off practice. After all, this practice would be the only one before the game against Slytherin, and if they lost, no one would let him forget who captained the team into humiliation.

If they won, well, they would get unlimited bragging rights and eternal glory for Gryffindor. That game would determine who won the Quidditch Cup.

"We will obviously be playing against Slytherin but I think our chances of winning are pretty good. We have two awesome Beaters, three excellent Chasers, a great Keeper-"

"Not to mention a Seeker who has never failed to win a match" Lily said.

James felt that sensation in his stomach as Lily smiled at him.

" Th-thanks" James stammered, turning red.

Lily blushed.

Sirius cleared his throat and gave James a look that clearly said "I toild you so."

"Yeah,um, anyway, we have won most of the games this year so we're doing really well. I suppose we should get practicing, the game is in a week."

They mounted and started practice. Two hours later, after most of the team had left, James thought they had flown prettywell (though he had been hit in the head by a Bludger a few times due to staring at Lily.)

The rest of the week went by with all the usual parts of an upcoming match. Members of rival houses were goinng wild with cursing each other in the halls. Madam Pomfrey was kept busy by people who had sprouted extra limbs and other strange hex benifits. Threats, taunts,and unpleasant songs about team members were all a part of the package. The Mauraders had come up with some rather funny ones about the Slytherin Team.

Song 1:

"I hate you, you hate me

Lets chase Malfie up a tree

Shoot him with a 44

No more ugly minotaur

Song 2:

"I hate you, you hate me

Lets go out and kill Sevie

With a rake and a hose

And a whack on the head

Lets just say that Sevie's dead"

Song 3:

Row, Row, Row your boat gently down the stream

Throw Bella overboard listen to her scream

5 days later she's chewin' on her underwear

We wish she had another pair

They were eaten by a polar bear

10 days later squash her on an escalator

Thats how Bella died."

And so came the eve of the match

James was feeling very nervous. He had never wanted to win so badly. The Quidditch Cup was at stake and he wanted to beat Malfoy and Snape as well as impress Lily. Sitting in the common room alone, James felt a bit sick. It was 12:48 at night and hecouldn't sleep.

"Are you nervous?" a cool voice asked.

It was Lily.

" A little, are you?"

"Yeah, I am. But I think we have good chances of winning.You said so yourself. Plus we have you, you always catch the Snitch."

James nodded, unable to speak. He was afraid he would say something stupid and could think of nothing else except how pretty she looked.

Her green eyes sparkled in the firelight and flaming hair fell over her shoulders like red silk. Fair skin shined pale gold in the dim light of the common room and her white nightgown loosely framed her delicate figure.

James could think of nothing to say that sounded the least bit intelligent.

" James" she whispered.

" Yes?"

" I- I dont know what to say but I wanted to tell you though- oh, never mind."

Lily sighed. James felt almost guilty but he didnt know why. It was as though her sadness was his fault. He wanted to say something to her, but what could he say?. Lily sat down on the couch next to him and buried her face in her hands. She gave a small sob.

Slowly and gently, James moved her hands away. He looked closely and saw her tear stained face; she had been crying, or maybe she still was. It was hard to tell in the dimly lit common room.

" Why are you crying Lily?" He asked softly.

"Its-its nothing. I have to go. B-bye James, g-goodnight."

Lily left, leaving James quite alone and quite confused.


	2. Don't Think, Don't Plan

The next morning, the school was ablaze with excitement.

It was the day of the final Quidditch match and the majority of the school wanted to see Slytherin defeated. The Gryffindor Team was silent and subdued though everyone thought they would win. They changed in the lockers silently and heard the roaring noise of hundreds of footsteps as students and teacher filed into the stadium.

"Ready?" James asked the team.

They nodded and mounted their broomsticks. The red and gold clad team flew onto the field to a roar of deafaning boos and cheers.

"The Quaffle is released and the game begins!"

Alices voice could be heard by everyone from the commentary stand.

"It is Evans with the Quaffle, shes headed towards the goal, SHE SCORES! Evans passes the Quaffle to Longbottom, oh no, it is intercepted by Slytherin Chaser, Bellatrix Black."

James heard Sirius curse. It was common knowledge that he and his cousin loathed each other. James looked eagerly for the Snitch as he listened closely to the Commentary, desperate to know who was in the lead.

"Bellatrix Black misses the goal post, Gryfindor now leads thirty-ten."

They were already twenty minutes in to the game and no sign of the Snitch.

"Slytherin Keeper Snape gets ready to block the Quaffle, Evans is heading towards him, she is headed to center goal, Snape is ready to block, she heads to left goal, oh and its an immediate switch to the right. SCORE FOR GRYFFINDOR! Gryffindor leads forty-ten."

Lily punched the air and waved happily at James, who had to steady his broom. Once again he was staring at Lily. If looks could kill James would be ten feet under.

The match went on for a whole other hour with scores and tactics and everything type of foul cheat you could expect from only the Slytherins.

Then he saw it.

The Snitch.

The golden ball, so small but so important.

His only chance of winning.

Gryffindor only led 80-70.

No, now they were tied 80-80. But then, Bellatrix Black scored giving them a 10 point lead. He had to catch the snitch or Gryffindor was finished.

The Snitch was hovering by Snapes foot darting around his ankle, going here and there as though daring James to try. James dove with lightning speed and agility. Snape yelled out; he thought he was being attacked.

The commentary started again as James tore after the Snitch, tailed by Malfoy.

" Potter has seen the Snitch! And Malfoy is tailing him, that great dirty cheating loon!"

James slowed as the Snitch stopped for a moment it hovered, moving, but going nowhere. James moved towards it, the rest of the game had come to a complete stop, everyone was watching him, it all came down to this moment. James made a sudden grab for it with both hands and...

" POTTER HAS COUGHT THE GOLDEN SNITCH! GRYFFINDOR WINS THE HOUSE CUP!"

It happened in seconds. The Team all flew towards him and all seven players were enveloped in a mid-air group hug.

Once the group hug released a bit, all players smiling and crying tears of pure ecstasy, Lily flew straight towards him and threw her arms around his neck.

" You were excellent!" She yelled over the deafening noise.

James blushed. And then, without thinking, without really planning it, not caring that over a hundred people were watching, he kissed her.

And she kissed back.

All noise in the stadium stopped, everthing had come to a halt. Everyone stared. A few people wolf-whislte, and Remus Lupin nearly fell of his broom.

Hogwarts had always known Lily and James to be enemies so seeing them kissing in the air must have been a bit of a suprise or downright shock.

But James did not care and niether did Lily.

When they finally broke apart, James whispered in her ear "I love you" and when she said the same words back, James felt that it beat even winning the Quidditch Cup.

**I hope you liked it! I had never really thought of Lily as the Quidditch type, I thought she'd be more like Hermione so I wanted to try something new to me. Should I leave this as two chaps or add more? Review and tell me please!**

**Love from RowlingRulesXtreme!**


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